Truth in the Kiss
by Moonlight Shadow4
Summary: (seperated from one shot collection) [original upload: July 28, 2003] Similiar to "Hugs and Kisses". Inu-Yasha and Kagome are fighting again, only Kagome lets something slip. A little bit of humor, and, as usual, fluffy.


_Disclaimer: _Argh! The horror for you poor people that are suffering through my lame ass disclaimers…. Ok, here's my next attempt *speaking in an accent like Captain Kirk*: Captain's Log, Star date 1, 2…3, 4, 5…. I have yet convinced that wily half-demon to join my forces. Unfortunately, I am running from crazed wolf-demon Kouga…. Must save own skin…. Readers must read and review! (Ok, lame! But it's 12:44 AM and I'm just…here…physically.) 

A/N: VEERRRY similar to "Hugs and Kisses" but it's still a sweet pick-me-up. ^^

_Truth in the Kiss_

                "How long do you suppose this will last this time around, Sir Monk?" Sango queried, watching amusedly at her two friends bickering. Sure, it was a little cliché, but, waste not want not good entertainment.

                Stroking his chin, Miroku eyed them, drumming his fingers over his staff. "Oh, I'd estimate…three hours."

                "Don't they ever get tired?" Shippo wondered aloud, his eyes going into swirls. "I'm getting dizzy just trying to keep blows straight."

                "Ah, but it is a lover's spat," the monk knowingly said while gesturing towards Lady Kaede's village. "It probably would be best if we left them to deal with things."

                Nodding, Sango picked up the young fox. "You're right. Let's leave them be."

                Inu-Yasha and Kagome didn't even notice the rest of their entourage had left. 

                "…and you're being unreasonable!" the girl was shouting at the top of her voice.

                "I'M being unreasonable?!" dog boy was echoing back. "ME?! YOU'RE the one who has to go back for all your stupid stuff! And you're the one who abuses this fucking enchantment!"

                Kagome growled, stomping toward Inu-Yasha, whose back had been leaning towards the Goshinboku where they were fighting for the millionth time. That position was not the smartest spot for him to be in as she closed the space between them and the boy found himself falling rearward into the tree. "I abuse it?! ABUSE IT?! I think I've been pretty reasonable! What with you sneaking off all the time—"

                His cocky attitude swept back as he lurched forward to shriek at her, making her recoil, "Since when do_ I_ sneak?! I've got nothing to hide—"

                "Except when it comes to you seeing Kikyo!" the girl finally burst out.

                Time felt like it'd paused to catch its own breath, viewing raptly at the lover's spat.

                Kagome continued to breathe heavily as she caught her own breath, staring at Inu-Yasha's face. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes, but she didn't even try to fight down the sheen over her lenses. 

                Inu-Yasha could plainly see what was going to happen…and it hit him again that he hurt her. Of course she'd told him that she always got miffed when the 'Kikyo situation' came into play, but he had no idea the dead priestess was still bugging her psychologically. It'd been weeks since he'd even caught rumors of the deceased girl's lingering presence. He blinked his ambry orbs, settling into that shock of 'I really screwed up this time'. He began to extend his hands towards her, in an effort to place them on her shoulders and console her. "K-Kagome," he started softly, voice clumsily slipping off his tongue.

                In a flash, she'd stepped straight up to him. "You want to know something, Inu-Yasha?" she asked quietly, in that eerie, calm sound that Kikyo used; it sent shivers of dread down his spine. She didn't wait for him to nod, tromping even closer to him, making him rise onto the balls of his feet, back flat against the bark of the god-tree. "I hate it every time you go see that…that…that clay pot!" Kagome spluttered out, hands tremulous with rage. Continuing on with locomotive consistency, she blurted, "You know how it makes me feel every, single time you go and talk to her with that mystified voice, agreeing to go to Hell with that psychotic witch! It hurts me, Inu-Yasha! But you don't get it!" Her hands flew up in the air with a will of their own. "Your skull must be thicker than concrete!" She rapped on his head for emphasis, getting ever closer. "Gods, Inu-Yasha, don't you ever think how I feel?"

                He blinked several times; his voice box currently rolled up in a protective ball for fear the girl would savagely rip it out in her fury. Inu-Yasha swallowed with his heart in his mouth. The tears he'd seen forming in Kagome's eyes had fallen, and she was vibrating terribly. Her cobalt orbs were puffy and red, her hair fell in limp waves past her shoulders, and her pink lips shuddered with each passing word and inhalation. 

                Sniffling, the girl continued to gape at him with those orbs of heaven. "Inu-Yasha…it hurts me, and you never even think! It just makes me so mad that I want to…that I want to…"

                Before the dog-hanyou could ask, he found the girl-from-the-future's soft lips pressed against his in long, sweet kiss. He kissed her back, and was in the process of embracing her petite form to his muscular one when she hastily reversed away, a hand resting on her mouth; she was shocked but…. That look in her eyes…was it…fear? What did Kagome have to fear from him, Inu-Yasha? _I won't become a monster before you…I will not hurt you…._

Not giving him time to voice his thoughts, Kagome articulated her suspicions; seemingly taken aback at her own valor. "Now, you know how I feel. A kiss on the lips means 'I love you'. And I do love you, Inu-Yasha, yet it's clear that you do not love me!" With greatest speed she'd ever mustered, the girl took off like a shot for the Bone-Eater's Well.

                Inu-Yasha stood there, a claw tracing over his lips. _She…she kissed me! Kagome…._ He shook himself out of his mental stupor and dashed after her. "I'm a damned idiot!" he muttered incoherently as he zipped along through the throng of shrubbery. 

He arrived just in time to watch her disappear through the well. "Shit!" He punched the edge of the well, making it crack. He violently shoved away the beautiful, unruffled rural scene from his mind. _I'm a fool, I'm an asshole, I'm a bastard, I'm a…_ He cut off his judgmental musing to catch the scent that touched his acute dog nose. Inu-Yasha smelled…water and…salt…. _She cried when she left me…. I made her cry again…the brat is right, I am good at something…I'm good at making Kagome suffer._

He remained poised there for a moment, time giving a hiccup, long enough to allow him to mentally slap himself into action. "What the fuck am I doing here?!" Inu-Yasha bounded into the well. "If I'm supposed to be the hero, I'm supposed to go get the girl!"

                Sinking through the waters of time, and cheating the history books, Inu-Yasha soared out of the mini-shrine and headed straight for Kagome's room, propelling himself from anything that would send him higher and closer to her chamber. "I'll break down the door if I have to!" he growled determinedly as he flew to light upon the slanted roof beneath her window.

                He could hear crying…. Kagome crying.

                She was weeping on her bed, face planted into her pillow with pitiful whimpers issuing from her mouth. The girl combated tears for breath as she inhaled erratically. The way her body laid, from where Inu-Yasha was cagily perched, seemed to be sunk deep into the rose-colored coverlet of her bed. 

                Kagome was chanting something, something muffled into the pillow. 

                Inu-Yasha pressed a probing dog ear at the bottom of the sill for better clarity.

                "He doesn't care."

                His eyes widened in surprise and grew somber. _That's not true, Kagome._

                "Inu-Yasha still loves Kikyo."

                _Do I?_

"She's right. His heart will always be hers, living in deep despair because he can never forget her…then she'll be free to drag him to hell."

                _WHAT?! That psychotic bitch! How dare she feed false shit to Kagome! I can't leave because of Kagome! And my heart is mine to do with what I please, thank you very much! And it made a choice and it belongs to someone alive._

                 A shuddering breath...and then silence.

                The hanyou wondered if maybe she fell asleep from the exertion of sobbing. He began slinking closer to the clasp on the outside to make his way inward.

                Softly, tentatively the fatigued timbre said, "But…I still love him…."

                Cautiously, Inu-Yasha slid the window open and swiftly jumped into her room, landing as quiet as a shadow.

                Finally catching his youki, Kagome turned her visage from her wet cushion and onto the half-dog demon standing a beat away from her bedside. Hurriedly, she sat up on her knees. That…expression on his face…was that…love? No, just concern. _He doesn't love me,_ she told herself, eyes shining with a fresh coating of tears, looking away from him. _How could he ever love a girl like me?_

For a moment or two, they remained stationary, full aware of the other's presence, but uttering not a word to the other. The room was unnatural silent, even for a shrine ground in the early evening. Sunlight was beginning to grow dimmer, and the whole area was bathed in dream's light.

"You're the reason," he abruptly broke the still with his gentle voice. His golden eyes serene and pained like the setting sun on a beautiful world. _I hope I still have my chance...._

                She cautiously glanced up. "Th-the reason for what?" Kagome stuttered out, choking tears and gunk down her throat.

                "For everything. For everything worth anything." Silently, he crept up and took a seat beside her—though she wasn't next to him for long. He scooped her up in his arms and sat her on his lap, cradling her top half in his arms. Inu-Yasha moved his clawed hand to sweep away the tears, like invisible barriers before he'd continue. "Kagome, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be awake, but more than that. I would've died and been banished to Hell several times over if… the thought of never seeing your lovely face again did not bother me. 

"Kagome, it's because of you, and for you, that I mastered Tetsusaiga; I wanted you safe from other demons…and an uncontrollable me. I didn't like you scared for my safety, and secretly scared of what would happen to my human half…the thing that makes me who I am."

                "Inu-Yasha…." She rested her head over his heart, hearing it's soothing rhythm.

                "Kagome, I don't blame you for worrying over Kikyo." He sensed the rippling in her muscles as she cringed at the name. "But, I'm here for you, not for her. I came to get you. I want, no, I _need_ you to be by my side _always._" Gently, Inu-Yasha lifted her chin up and kissed her on the lips, then licked her on the nose. "The first is the human way; the second is the dog-demons way. Both are true. I love you." He genuinely smiled down at the girl cradled in his embrace, one hand tangled in the waves of onyx. "You know, you're stuck with me, girl." He half-smirked. "Every demon that comes near you and has even the thought of courting you will smell the faint scent that I've marked as my own. As my mate…" The dog-demon wriggled his fingers in her hair again, softly saying as he tipped his nose against hers, "…as my wife…."   

                Peering tenderly at him, his face still so close to hers, Kagome smiled. What he was saying was true, and the girl knew it; his countenance told her so with every curvature of his tranquil face. Those eyes were shining brightly for her, as they fervently gazed into hers, boring resting places for his heart in her soul.

She licked him on the nose. "Thank you…for telling me…the truth…" Kagome whispered, her lips brushing his. "I will always be by your side, Inu-Yasha. Always."

~Fin~

~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Ah, me and free time, preparing for babysitting tomorrow. You know the drill people, read and review. I was just taking a break for a moment to plot and such, and once again, a similar sappy thing. However, my mother spoke some of the wisest words I've ever heard: "If you go to the bare bones, every story is the same, and there's only so many bases…it's how you tell the story that makes it different and worth reading." This fic is just a lover's pick-me-up.

Send e-mail to: hanyou_miko_dreamer@hotmail.com

  
Inu-Yasha: Oh, you're loving this, aren't you?

Indubitably. Thanks for being such a good sport. Till next Torture Ville.

Ja ne,

~Moonlight Shadow


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